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Pants Fitting Fun

I started working with the Closet Case Patterns Sasha trouser last weekend and finally got to a good fitting stage today. Unfortunately, I want to tear my hair out. So instead, I thought it would be fun to compare the fit of those out of the envelope to two other pairs of slim fitting black pants I already own. It’s not pretty.

Black photographing as terrible as it does, I have cranked up the exposure on all of the pictures, my apologies

First up to bat are a pair of Andrew Marc black ponte pants in size 6 that I got from Costco for less than $20 and zero trips to a fitting room. They are comfortable to wear, but over the course of the day the knees bag out, which isn’t so bad, but the growing waistline that creeps down my torso is. These pictures are fresh out of the dryer, so the tightest fit they have. If I could have something like this in a stretch woven without the jeans-like styling of the back, I would be thrilled.
Next are the reason I wanted to try the Sasha pattern in the first place- Sloan trousers from Banana Republic in size 4. They looked good if a tad tight that day in the fitting room, so I got two pairs in the ankle length because they were perfection in length and made my butt look good. Tossed them in the wash without noticing the dry clean only care instruction and whelp, they’ve never been the same since. They are a touch too short now for me as I don’t love a cropped length and are tight. So stupid tight. Oh well. That’s why I figured I could just sew up a pattern that’s pretty much a duplicate for the Sloan trousers if you look at the Closet Case Patterns website.

These have the worst visible panty lines, how?!

As it stands now, these are a wreck. I cut a straight size 10 as those are dead on for my waist and hip measurements right now. And really the hip measurement seems to be working out. Too bad it’s the only part that is working out. Yeah, yeah, I know about making muslins. Find me cheap muslin fabric with 20% stretch across the grain, and I’ll work with it; otherwise, I’m stuck taking measurements and hoping it’s for the best. These are not slim fitting on me below mid thigh, which is disappointing. The waistband gapes pretty badly through the small of my back, so I’m going to have to dart it as I don’t have any extra fabric for cutting a new one. Live and learn, right? But that pales in comparison to the crotch and back curve. It does not fit the shape of my body in any way, shape, or form. Now, go back and look at the RTW pants. No threat of cameltoe at all, whereas the Sasha does have that issue. The back length feels too short, but measuring it, it should be enough. So why isn’t it? That’s where the fun starts.

Sloan (top) and Andrew Marc (bottom)

The Sloan’s flyshield did not want to cooperate for photography purposes, but I hope that you can see some vestige of the front curve. More importantly, look at the back curve. There is a good sized scoop down. Heather calls it the low butt adjustment in the fitting guide blogposts at Closet Case, but I’m wondering if it’s just more of a standard draft in ready to wear. My jeans don’t do this, but they have longer back lengths instead (1 inch longer than the Sasha for a size 4 Levi’s midrise and 2.5 inches longer in the size 6 CK skinny)

Indeed, my jeans have this exact back curve, but definitely more length, which makes sense for a jeans fit. So my first order of business for fixing the fit is to fix the order of construction for the inseam and crotch seams (they should look like the BR Sloans and not like a pair of jeans) and then start scooping out under the buttocks so that there is room for them. I think that there is technically enough length but because there is not nearly enough negative space for my body, the back length is getting pulled down to make that space. I don’t know that it will fix the back waistband, but I’m kind of hoping it does before I decide how much of a dart it needs. Now, onto the front crotch. Notice how straight the Sasha compared to the two RTW curves? I’m grateful that the front doesn’t look worse on me, honestly. Hopefully, I can have a happy post sometime this week with a great fitting set of pants, but in the meantime, I feel like I learned a lot about what I need to do to make these work.